Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Merinques Chantilly with Roasted Berries


This is a recipe offered by Ina Garden, the Barefoot Contessa.  When baking the merinques, check them at 1-1/2 hours and if they feel crisp to the touch, turn off your oven at that point.  Mine looked great at 1-1/2 hours, but 20 minutes later they started to turn color. They still looked and tasted great.  All ovens are different.  I also left them overnight as the recipe suggests.  The crisp shells became tacky, I assume due to humidity.  I would only do 4 hours next time, then refrigerate them until ready for use.

Ingredients

4 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch of kosher salt
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 pint fresh strawberries
2 half-pints fresh raspberries
2 half-pints fresh blueberries
2 half-pints fresh blackberries
¼ cup sugar
Vanilla Bean, split and seeds removed 

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a small glass and a pencil, draw four 3 1/2-inch circles on each piece of paper. Turn the paper face-down on the baking sheets.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt on high speed until frothy. Add 2/3 cup of the sugar and continue beating on high speed until the egg whites form very stiff peaks. Whisk in the vanilla. Carefully fold the remaining 1/3 cup sugar into the meringue. With a large star-shaped pastry tip, pipe a disc of meringue inside each circle. Pipe another layer around the edge to form the sides of the shells.

Bake for 2 hours, or until the meringues are dry and crisp but not browned. Turn off the heat and allow the meringues to sit in the oven for 4 hours or overnight*.

For serving, place each meringue on a separate plate and top the shell with berries.
*See my note above



Roasted Berries 
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Place the strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries on a sheet pan and toss with the sugar and vanilla bean seeds. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature before serving. 




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